Natural light is everywhere. Even when you feel there is absolutely no natural light to shoot with, think again. Look up. The night sky is strewn with twinkling stars. Even if you couldn’t possibly shoot with that light, you could still make it your subject. And therefore capture a stunning view of the cosmos. We are referring to the Milky Way of course.

Then, of course, there is the Golden Hour. The times of the day when the light is absolutely stunning. The thing is natural light is free and abundant. You just need to know how to utilize it. You have probably guessed already. Yes, we are going to learn how to shoot with natural light.

Golden Hour

Let’s start with the Golden Hour because that is by far the best time of the day if you love shooting in natural light. Golden hour is that particular time of the day just after sunrise and just before sunset when the rays of the sun travel almost parallel to the ground. The light is soft, directional and ideal for portraits. Even though the light is directional the shadows are rarely harsh and therefore this light is perfect for flattering close-up shots.

You can also use a light modifier such as a reflector to further soften the quality of light but using the reflected light rather than the incident light.

Blue Hour

The blue hour comes right after the golden hour. Usually, that happens at the later part of the day when the sun starts to go down below the horizon. The blue hour is signified by a largely blue sky, preferably with very minimal traces (if any) of red or orange or yellow in the frame. That means the sky is dominated by the blue color.

The blue hour is best exploited when you have something brighter and colorful to shoot. Like a girl dressed in bright red or a string of multi-colored Christmas lights. And you need some artificial lights to go with it. Preferably a strobe. But a flash will also work. Otherwise, the lack of ambient light in the scene is going to make your subject underexposed. You need at least one external light to start with. Colors like red, or yellow, anything bright goes well in the blue hour.

The blue hour is also a great time to experiment with light trails. Especially fireworks. But you can also try shooting light trails of vehicles. Christmas lights adorning a family home or the lights at a winter market makes interesting subjects as well.

Overcast

Professional photographers often refer to overcast days as God’s way of saying that he loves them. Why? Because overcast days are like a giant soft-box. Speaking of soft-boxes you probably know how good soft-boxes are for creating those soft wrap-around light. This light is great for product photography, but the best use is for shooting portrait photos.

This light will never produce harsh shadows, the light being soft will hide blemishes and therefore produce a soft-looking portrait.

High Noon

High noon is probably one time of the day when no one wants to photograph outdoors. The light is directional and the shadows are harsh. You cannot shoot good portraits. You cannot even shoot great architecture. It is not entirely impossible to shoot at high noon but the effort to get great results is way more than the rewards. The only thing you could perhaps shoot well is landscape.

But what if you want to shoot portraits? The simple trick to shoot at high noon is to find some shade. Place the talent under a wall or a portico or even a tree to make the light less unforgiving. But there is something else to it. You should also use a flash. Expose for the background, and then adjust the power of your flash’s output so that the two exposures are balanced.

Using Gels with Your Flash

Some photographers use gels with their flash to neutralize the color temperature of ambient light and to impart a color temperature that more closely suits their requirements.

Let’s say that you are shooting in the early afternoon. The color temperature is around 5500 degrees Kelvin. But you don’t want the warm look and rather want the sky to look cooler. Step one would be to dial in the white balance of your camera to something like 3200 degrees Kelvin. This would automatically make everything appear blue.

The next step is to fire a flash on to the subject’s face. But make sure that the flash is gelled using a CTO gel. This will ensure that the light compensates for the 3200 degrees Kelvin white Balance that you dialed in. The result will be a cool blue sky with the subject lit up by a warm light.